Can we use promoter strength/opposite directions to subtract? Clif Davis

Promoter Strength

I found some valuable information on the Cornell University Website listed below. “The degree to which a given promoter conforms to the consensus sequence determines the strength of that promoter. The closer the sequence to the consensus, the stronger the promoter will be and the more frequently transcription will occur at that promoter.” “Promoter strength is important because it determines how often a given mRNA sequence is transcribed, effectively giving higher priority for transcription to some genes over others. A gene that codes for a protein that is required in large quantities, for example, might be expected to have a relatively strong promoter.”

References

http://www.biog1105-1106.org/demos/106/unit02/3c.promoterstrength.html

Subtraction Using Promoter Strength

Now say we experiment with some different strength promoters, and use them with the manufacturing of some fluorescent protein. We could then grade them by measuring the color formation against each other. Say we had Yellow Fluorescent Protein (YFP) and Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and used our different promoters to make some of each. If we use two different promoters, and the end result is a greenyellow color, then it would be safe to assume that the promoter on the GFP gene is stronger than the other promoter. Maybe if we got it just right, with equal promoters on each gene, we could come up with a blue color on our plates. I included some sample colors to give more of a visual effect.

Obviously there are too many different degrees of color for people to distinguish. We may run into a problem in there being enough difference between the two promoters to tell the difference in color.

Once we grade the promoters we are using, maybe on a 1-10 scale. We should be able to make a key of some kind. A difference of 1 should always look like this, or a difference of 7 should look like this. We could start there with our math problems and see what happens. The more promoters we can use the bigger the difference can be in strengths.